The Happiest Place On Earth
by kkater
Summary: On a class trip, Manny and Craig deal with their relationship, Liberty learns some upsetting news, Marco tries to accept his being gay, and Paige finally finds someone she truly cares about. Please read and review!
1. Chapter One

Haha.this is a REALLY bad story but I felt like writing Degrassi fanfiction and I wanted them to go to the place where I live, so here it is. Flamers are always good! Lol. I appreciate any feedback. ¡Gracias!  
  
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"Ugh, I am so ready for summer," sighed Emma Nelson as she was walking through the halls of Degrassi Community School with her best friend, Manny Santos.  
  
"Isn't everyone?" replied Manny. It was the first week of June, which meant that the students at DCS had just over a week left of school. There wasn't anyone, with the exception of Liberty Van Zandt possibly, that wasn't looking forward to three months of freedom from homework, teachers, and tests.  
  
The two girls entered their homeroom. After a few minutes of waiting for the bell to ring, Liberty's homeroom announcements showed up on the TV set.  
  
"Attention all Degrassi students!" she said. "The end of the year is coming up quick! As a celebration of summer, all students are invited on a five day trip to California the week following commencement. Forms for the trip will be passed out in your homeroom. See you then!"  
  
The sound of excited murmuring throughout the class could be heard. "That would be SO much fun!" Manny exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, and so completely bad for our environment," replied Emma. "Do you know how much tourism affects our Earth? It's -" Manny sighed. "Emma, just shut up. Come on, you know you'd have tons of fun."  
  
"Whatever," replied Emma. Deep inside, she knew she really would have fun but she didn't want to admit that Manny had been right.  
  
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"So, do you think you're gonna go to Cali with our school?" Hazel Aden asked Paige Michaelchuk as they were sitting at the benches in front of Degrassi, eating lunch. "I mean, it seems kinda lame. There will be teachers there. And little Grade Eights."  
  
"Yeah, and?" asked Paige. "Hun, it's California! As in Hollywood! As in movie stars! Hot movie stars. What more could a girl ask for?"  
  
"Dude," said Spinner Mason, sitting next to Hazel. "I'm going surfing. Totally."  
  
"Uh, sure, Spin," Paige said. "Anyway, so how can you not go Hazel?"  
  
Hazel bit her lip. Paige did have a point. It was California with celebrities, sun, and surf. Hanging around middle schoolers wasn't exactly her idea of a great time, but maybe they could "I'll think about it." 


	2. Chapter Two

Okay kiddies, here's the second chapter. Thanks for all the reviews. Suprisingly, I didn't get any bad reviews. JustAnotherWriter, I was not at all aware of that rule. Thanks for letting me know. We'll just say that in this world it doesn't exist :) Oh, yes, and I don't own Degrassi or any of these characters, blah, blah, blah. Do we really even have to say that?  
  
Also, the second half of season 2 hasn't even been shown yet in the US so I have no clue where Manny and Craig are in their relationship, so we'll just pretend that they aren't going out anymore, but they still like each other.  
  
I didn't realize this chapter was so short until I uploaded it, so I'll try to make the next one longer!  
  
I look forward to lots of reviews, good and bad!  
  
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Two weeks had passed. It seemed more like two centuries, but finally the long-awaited day had come. Manny showed up at Emma's house at six and the two of them, barely even half awake, trudged into the car with their suitcases.  
  
"Girls, you are just going to have so much fun!" exclaimed Mrs. Nelson excitedly. Emma and Manny groaned. It was too early for excitement.  
  
"Mm-hmm," they both mumbled. They too were totally psyched for the trip, just not at this time in the morning. Why, oh why had the stupid Degrassi teachers decided to get plane tickets for eight o'clock?  
  
Mrs. Nelson kept rambling on happily. "I'll miss Archie, but I'm sure he'll have fun with you girls. He's always loved the ocean so much. I told him that he didn't have to bring me back a souvenir." Why couldn't her mom just shut up? Emma thought. By the time they had reached the airport, Emma's mom was still talking and the girls were still dead, but they had gotten more and more excited with every "Toronto Airport X miles" sign they passed.  
  
Manny noticed a large group of Degrassi students standing by the nearby baggage check-in counter, so after Emma kissed her mom goodbye, the two walked over to the pack, suitcases in hand.  
  
"Manny, Emma, you're here," Mr. Simpson noted scribbling something on a clipboard. Manny let out a little squeal of joy. They were finally leaving for California!  
  
"Hey, Manny," Manny heard as she felt a little tap on her shoulder. She spun around and saw Craig standing there. Her heart did a little leap. Manny couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of this before. Craig was coming on the trip! How much better could life get?  
  
"Oh, hi!" replied Manny, grinning. "Are you looking forward to the trip?"  
  
"Yeah, definitely," said Craig. "Are you? I heard we get to go to Disneyland."  
  
"Of course!" Manny exclaimed. "I've never been to Disneyland. Or, I guess, any part of California for that matter. Have you? It sounds awesome!"  
  
"Nope," Craig smiled. He, too, was looking forward to spending a week with Manny Santos, the most beautiful girl in the world. Or, at least to him. The two of them just stood there for a minute or so, smiling and looking at each other.  
  
"Okay guys," shouted Mr. Simpson. "Everyone's here. Let's go check in now." There was not one person in the crowd without a smile on their face. 


	3. Chapter Three

Ashley's eyes fluttered open. Where was she? Oh yes, that was right. She was on an airplane. Headed to California! As much as she loved her hometown of Toronto, she had always dreamed of coming to a place such as this sunny state. Ashley glanced to her right. There was her best friend, Ellie Nash, bopping her head to music.  
  
"Hey sleepyhead," said Ellie pulling off her headphones. "Have a good rest? The second we got on the plane, you were out of it."  
  
"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night," Ashley responded. "What are you listening to?"  
  
Ellie smirked. "Good Charlotte. As poppy and non-punk as they are, they're just simply irresistible." She fingered the piercing on the upper cartilage on her left ear. "Wanna listen?"  
  
"Nah, I'm good," Ashley decided. "Hey, do you know if they're playing a movie on the way over?"  
  
"No clue. You could ask the stewardess over there with the crappy facelift," suggested Ellie. Ashley laughed. The stewardess looked like a person after you've screwed up their face with the smudge tool on some computer program. She hated to be so mean to someone like this, but she couldn't fight the urge. The lady was just too funny. Plus, it was her fault that she had decided to get plastic surgery. She knew that there was a chance of her face turning out like that.  
  
"Dude, that lady is hot!" Ashley heard JT Yorke exclaim to his friend Toby Isaacs from across the aisle, looking at the screwed-face lady. She giggled. Apparently, Ellie had heard to because she started laughing hysterically. The ugly lady walked over to them.  
  
"Excuse me, can I ask you to quiet down please?" she asked. "Some people are trying to enjoy the peace." This just made Ellie laugh even harder. She supposed that normally she wouldn't find such things so amusing, but she was in a good mood, and what harm was it to laugh? It was summer! "Ma'am, are you all right?" asked the stewardess.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," replied Ellie, still laughing. Just then, another stewardess (this time a much less ugly one) came over to them to see what was going on.  
  
"Is everything okay here?" she questioned. This got the attention of Ms. Kwan, who was sitting nearby.  
  
"Miss Nash, what is going on?" she said with a stern look on her face. Ellie stopped laughing now.  
  
"Um, not much, Ms. Kwan. I-I just, I was laughing at something and this lady didn't like it," Ellie explained, motioning to the facelift lady. Facelift woman didn't seem to enjoy being called "this lady".  
  
"Elle Nash, this is a warning," cautioned Ms. Kwan. "One more scandal like this one and you will not be participating in the trip activities." The two stewardesses left and Ms. Kwan resumed to what she had been doing before the interruption. Ellie glared at Ms. Kwan with her arms crossed. What a crappy trip this had turned out to be. She had already been told off by some bitchy teacher just because she was having a good time. As she was rubbing her forehead, her elbow accidentally knocked over her Coke. Crap. Why was she even on this hell of a vacation?  
  
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"So, I think there should be some pretty awesome photo opportunities in California," said Craig enthusiastically. "You know, with the beaches and sunsets and all. But I'll let you talk. I'm sure I'm boring you."  
  
"No!" Manny practically screamed. She smiled. Typical Craig, always caring about others before himself. "I love hearing what you have to say!"  
  
Craig smiled as well. "I like hearing what you say too. So, what are you looking forward to the most in California?"  
  
Manny couldn't tell him what she was really thinking - spending time with him. "Um, I'm not sure. Everything will be fun!" Just then, the food tray was brought by with lunch.  
  
"Chicken or lasagna?" asked the stewardess warily. Manny felt sorry for her. It must suck to have to spend hours and hours aboard a plane serving people their food.  
  
"Um, lasagna please?" Manny ordered.  
  
"Lasagna for me as well," decided. "Thank you very much!" he said when the stewardess handed him a slop of brownish-reddish gunk. After the stewardess had moved on to the next row, he stated, "Wow. This is even worse than the cafeteria food back home!"  
  
Manny laughed. "No kidding. How can they call this food even?" She dug in anyway. She was pretty hungry since she hadn't eaten breakfast that morning. Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good.  
  
"How is it?" asked Craig. "You think it's gonna kill you?"  
  
"I hope not!" Manny responded. If it killed her, she wouldn't get to see Craig anymore. "It's actually pretty good. Try it." Craig did as she said and he thought it wasn't too bad either. They sat for a few moments in silence, eating.  
  
"Um, Manny?" Craig said cautiously.  
  
"Yes?" replied Manny. "Uh, I - I'm sorry for breaking up with you even if it was a long time ago," he apologized.  
  
Manny looked down and smoothed out her shirt. "I am too, Craig." 


	4. Chapter Four

Thanks for reviews! Please keep reviewing, whether you like my fanfiction or not. Thanks!  
  
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Finally, the Degrassi students had arrived at the LAX airport. The air was completely different, Paige noticed. A good different. Whereas the weather back home in Toronto was slightly overcast and cloudy, here in California, it was sunny and warm.  
  
"Oh, excuse me," said a boy of about fifteen years as he accidentally bumped into Paige.  
  
Paige looked up. Not too shabby, she thought. "Hey, don't worry about it, hon. I'm Paige Michaelchuk." She flashed him a smile. He smiled back.  
  
"I'm Aaron Colman." He shook Paige's hand. "Nice to meet you. Where are you from?"  
  
"Toronto," Paige answered. "And you?"  
  
"Oh, LA," he told her. "Specifically Costa Mesa. I'm just here to pick up my uncle. He must've been on the same flight as you. He's from Toronto."  
  
"Very cool," she said. "So, how's it living in California?"  
  
"It's okay, I guess," he replied. "It's not all that everyone makes it out to be. Believe it or not, we aren't all tan, blonde, surfer dudes." Paige noticed that he did look like a tan, blonde, surfer dude. But whatever. "Um, so, how long are you staying here for?" Aaron asked.  
  
"Five days," she answered. "You think you're gonna be free any of those days?"  
  
"Yeah, probably," he smiled. "Hey - listen. That's my uncle getting off the plane now. I better go. But, call me or whatever." He scribbled a number on a piece of paper and handed to her. "See ya!"  
  
"Bye!" Paige called after him. Score. Less than five minutes in California and he had already met a cool guy. Looked like this trip would be even better than she had expected.  
  
"Everyone!" Mr. Simpson shouted. "Please follow me outside. We will be taking a bus from the airport to the hotel we will be staying at in Anaheim. The bus ride will be about 45 minutes, so please stop at the restrooms now. Your luggage will be at the hotel when we arrive."  
  
Paige was disappointed. She had expected they would be staying in some glamorous place such as Hollywood or Santa Monica. Not Andham or whatever it was called. Oh well, she would live.  
  
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Toby had spent the whole plane ride talking about Anime and all it's facets with Kendra Mason. He still couldn't believe that he had found a girl who liked Anime just like him. JT had overheard them at one point and started going off about how stupid Anime was and how it was for lame losers who had nothing better to do, but he didn't care. Now, on the bus to their hotel, Toby and Kendra were still discussing Anime, but now they were on to the topic of Evangelion. JT, in the row behind them, kept making gagging noises. They just ignored him.  
  
Halfway through their conversation, Toby froze and words would not come out of his mouth. He had looked into Kendra's eyes and realized that this was the first person he truly, truly liked. Back when he liked Emma, it was all just minor, even though he hadn't realized it at the time. Kendra was someone Toby was so much alike, yet so different. He was so lucky to have her. He just hoped that Kendra felt the same way.  
  
Kendra saw Toby looking at her. His expression was seriously starting to freak her out. He was cool and all, but sometimes, he just got weird. She thought it looked like he was about to kiss her. Great. She really didn't want that. Kendra thought that she had let Toby know a few months ago that she didn't want to be more than friends, but obviously he hadn't gotten the message. Toby leaned in. Before Kendra could turn away, he touched his lips to hers. Yuck!  
  
"Um, I gotta go to the bathroom," she said, running to the back of the bus where there was a tiny stall similar to the one in the airplane. This was horrible! Would Toby be acting like this all trip? She hoped not.  
  
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Liberty turned the page of IThe Transformation of Virginia/I by Rhys Isaac. It was really a fascinating book. She only wished that the stupid Grade Nines behind her would just shut up so she could concentrate. She found herself reading the same passage over and over again because of her lack of concentration. She turned around to see Spinner Mason and Jimmy Brooks throwing a miniature football back and forth. Grr!  
  
"Would you please shut up???" she shouted. Everyone turned around and stared at her. She didn't care; she had the right to yell at these imbeciles. Jimmy and Spinner just laughed.  
  
"What's so funny?" she yelled.  
  
"Dude, I think she's PMSing or something," Spinner tried to whisper, but did not have much success. Why these people were so naïve was beyond her. She went back to her reading, trying to shut out the noises. The sound of a cell phone ringing near the front of the bus irked her. Why had these horrible teachers even allowed cell phones on the trip? It was supposed to be an educational learning experience, not a chat session. She was tapped on the shoulder by someone.  
  
"What?" she screamed. She realized it was Mr. Simpson. Trying to calm down, she said, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, sir. I didn't realize it was you. Please forgive me." After all, if she angered the teachers, who knows what might have happened to her grades.  
  
"Uh, sure, Liberty," Mr. Simpson hesitated. "May I talk to you in private?"  
  
"Sure, what's wrong?" asked Liberty, worried. Her stomach clenched. From Mr. Simpson's voice, something was terribly wrong. 


	5. Chapter Five

More corniness! Thanks for reviews, keep reviewing, and blah, blah, blah. Oh - and by the way, Jessica Leng is a made up character but she will hardly ever be in here, so don't worry. So, here we go!  
  
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"I got a call from your parents," Mr. Simpson said. "They asked you to call them." He handed her a cell phone, which she dialed her parents' number on.  
  
"Hello?" her dad answered.  
  
"Hi, dad," replied Liberty. "It's me. What's up?"  
  
"Oh hey." He sounded worried and upset. "Um, James is in the hospital," he said, referring to Liberty's uncle, his brother. "He got in a car accident."  
  
"Oh my gosh!" Liberty muttered. She had grown up with James always being around. He was almost like a second father. "Is he okay?"  
  
"Yes, I think so. Archibald said that we would be able to contact you with further details. All we know now is that he isn't doing too well." Liberty said nothing. "Well, sweetie, I better go now. I'll call you as soon as we hear anything more." He hung up. A few minutes ago, Liberty thought that her mood couldn't have gotten any worse. Now, her uncle was dying. How much worse could things get?  
  
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Mr. Simpson began passing out a list of groups that would be staying in the same hotel room and would have to check in with each other every hour and a half. They would be arranged by grade and gender, so thankfully, for Liberty, she wouldn't be stuck with people like Jimmy and Spinner. When he handed Emma hers, she noticed that she was in a group with Manny (which was good), Jessica Leng, and Liberty. Emma tried not to be overly mean to anyone, but having Liberty in her group would be absolutely horrendous. There was not one person at DCS who enjoyed being friends with obnoxious Liberty.  
  
Emma found her suitcase in the big pile of luggage that belonged to Degrassi students. After Manny had found hers too and Mr. Simpson had given them a key to their room, they made their way upstairs.  
  
"Wow, this is really big!" exclaimed Manny as she turned the knob and opened the door.  
  
"No kidding," agreed Emma. There were two beds as well as a foldout couch and a rollaway bed. "Well, since we're the first ones here, we might as well claim our beds!" She and Manny picked out the regular, twin-sized beds. Hopefully, the others wouldn't be too angry with them for picking out the best places to sleep.  
  
The door opened and Jessica walked in, followed by Liberty, who looked as if she were somewhere else.  
  
"Hi Liberty, Jessica!" said Manny happily. Liberty just looked at her. "Uh, okay," Manny mumbled. Liberty had probably just gotten an A- on her report card or something. No big deal. Liberty went into the bathroom and shut the door. Wow, she must be really upset about that A-, thought Manny. She and Emma glanced at each other, confused. Just then, Mr. Armstrong opened the door. Emma, Manny, and Jessica all greeted him.  
  
"Hi girls," he responded. "I just came to let you know that we will be hanging around the hotel for today. Sorry, no Disneyland until tomorrow! Anyway, we're all having dinner at six. If you'd like to join us, please meet in the lobby. That's it!" He said goodbye and then left. Liberty was still in the bathroom, only now, the sound of her crying could be easily heard.  
  
"Liberty?" Manny said, knocking on the bathroom door. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Leave me alone!" shouted Liberty. Manny took her order; being on Liberty's bad side wasn't very much fun. Emma found the remote control and flipped on the TV. She stopped on the Discovery Channel and Manny and Jessica groaned. She just ignored them. A few minutes later, Manny was bored and began tossing the pillow back and forth with Jessica.  
  
"Hey, can we go visit other people's rooms?" she asked suddenly.  
  
"I don't know. Probably," guessed Jessica. Emma was too interested in the Discovery Channel to hear her.  
  
Manny smiled. "Be right back." She glanced down at the group list. Room 408. Cool. When she arrived at the room, she ran her fingers through her hair and then knocked. Marco Del Rossi opened the door.  
  
"Hey, is Craig here?" she asked.  
  
"Craig?" called Marco. "Ya here?" Craig came running to the door, looking as cute as usual.  
  
"Manny!" he smiled. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm good," replied Manny. "I was just bored, so I came to see you!"  
  
"Well, I'm glad you did." Was he really serious?  
  
Manny had to be alone with him somehow! "Do you wanna take a walk or something?" 


	6. Chapter Six

I tried to make this chapter longer but I'm not sure if it worked. Well, please keep reviewing! Oh and, I know it's pretty stupid that Marco likes Craig, but oh well.  
  
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"So, where should we go?" asked Craig.  
  
"Well, we could always check out the pool downstairs. It's pretty hot so maybe we could dip our feet in or something," Manny suggested.  
  
"Sounds good," Craig said. They began walking in silence. Neither of them wanted to say something stupid and be humiliated. Craig realized, though, that he'd better say something or Manny would find him completely boring and hate him, which he really didn't want.  
  
"Um, who-who's staying in your room with you?" he asked her.  
  
"Emma, Liberty, and Jessica," she answered. She wanted to say something about how horrible it was to have to share a room with Liberty, but she thought that she would sound rude. "I know Marco's in your room. Who else?"  
  
"Spinner and Jimmy," replied Craig. "They're cool. So, were you getting bored of your roommates or something?" he joked.  
  
"Well, actually, Emma was watching the Discovery Channel, Liberty was in the bathroom crying, and I just don't know Jessica that well," she said.  
  
"Liberty was crying?" he questioned. "What happened?"  
  
"Well, I don't really know," Manny said. "She just arrived at our room and then went into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. I asked her what was wrong and she wouldn't tell me."  
  
"How strange," Craig commented. "Maybe she's homesick or something."  
  
Manny bit her lip. "She could be. I thought maybe she had gotten a bad grade on her report card or something, but I sort of doubt it."  
  
"Who knows?" Craig asserted. The two of them waved to JT and Toby as they walked by.  
  
"Craig?" Manny was fiddling with her hair nervously. "I, uh, I know we broke up and all a few months ago, but, well, I like you still." She felt like she was having deja vu. The last time she had told Craig that she liked him, though, it hadn't resulted very well in the long run.  
  
Craig blinked. "You-you do?" Manny half-smiled. Craig muttered something and ran back through the hotel doors. Great. Once again, Manny had completely screwed up any chances she ever had of being with Craig.  
  
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Marco laughed nervously as Spinner told one of his stupid jokes. Having just found out he was gay a few months ago, it was pretty hard to have to stay in a room with a bunch of hot guys his own age. Fortunately, Craig had left. For some reason, lately, he had been really nervous anytime he saw Craig. His crush on Sean had also been lessening. Could he now have a crush on Craig? Wow. This gay stuff was pretty confusing.  
  
"Spinner, man, that joke was totally lame," said Jimmy.  
  
"Dude, are you, like, dissing me or something?" Spinner retorted.  
  
"So what if I am?" Jimmy challenged.  
  
"You are going down!" Spinner shouted. He suddenly jumped on top of Jimmy and started tackling him on to the bed. Marco watched the two in awe. Jimmy started attacking Spinner with pillows. Spinner smothered Jimmy with the blanket. For a couple of minutes, the sounds of shouting and the sights of wrestling could be seen and heard. Wouldn't that be fun to do with Craig? Marco thought. Wait - why was he thinking these thoughts? He didn't even like Craig. Or so he thought.  
  
Craig threw open the door with a stunned look on his face.  
  
"Craig, what's wrong?" Marco asked with a little too much emotion.  
  
"Uh, nothing," he replied moodily. "Just, uh, girl troubles." All of Marco's fantasies evaporated in an instant. He hadn't even thought about the fact that Craig was straight and he could never have him. Then again, he himself at one point had thought that he had liked Ellie, but obviously he didn't really. Perhaps Craig was the same way. At least he could hope.  
  
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Paige pulled out the slip of paper with Aaron's number on it from her purse and turned on her cell phone. She eagerly dialed it, thinking about what she would say to him.  
  
"Colman resident," an adult male voice said.  
  
Paige put on her sweetest voice. "Hello Mr. Colman. May I kindly speak with your wonderful son, Aaron?"  
  
"Uh, okay," he grumbled. "May I ask who's calling?"  
  
She obviously couldn't tell him that she was some random stranger that his son met at an airport. "Um, I'm a friend of his from school."  
  
"Okay. I'll get him," he told her.  
  
"Why thank you, Mr. Colman. Pleasure speaking to you!" A few seconds later, Aaron picked up the phone. Paige's tone of voice completely changed into what she thought was a sexy, husky tone. "Hello Aaron. It's Paige from the airport."  
  
"Oh hey!" he said, surprised. "How have you been? How's California so far?"  
  
"Great," she responded. "So, I was wondering. Tonight, we aren't doing anything. Would you like to meet up or something?"  
  
"Sure. Sounds good," said Aaron. "Costa Mesa is like twenty minutes from Anaheim. I could take a bus there, or you could come here. Whatever."  
  
"Well," Paige explained, "I already looked into this. In half an hour, there's going to be a bus leaving from my hotel that's going to Costa Mesa. I could easily sneak out and meet you somewhere. No one would notice."  
  
"Cool," he said. "So, uh, where do you want to meet? There's a Mexican restaurant pretty near my house called Don Jose's. It's pretty good. Do you want to go there?"  
  
"If you say it's good!" Paige flirted. "Meet you at seven?"  
  
Paige could hear a smile in Aaron's voice. "See you then!" he said. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Well, I just finished Chapter Six a few minutes ago, but fanfiction is so much fun, I decided to write the next chapter! Yay!  
  
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Paige applied some lip-gloss and mascara and then ran a brush through her hair. Glancing at the mirror one last time, she saw that she looked totally irresistible. Aaron would not be able to hold himself back. She threw her denim Roxy wallet into her purse and headed out the door. Ellie, Hazel, and Ashley would never notice her absence.  
  
"Paige, where are you going?" asked Hazel. Or not.  
  
"She's probably heading off to go make out with some hot guy she met," mumbled Ellie.  
  
"As a matter of fact," Paige said smugly, "I did meet a guy. His name is Aaron and we're going out to dinner together." Ellie laughed. Paige didn't care. Ellie was just some stupid punk loser whose opinions had no effect on her.  
  
"Oh my God, you didn't tell me?" shrieked Hazel. Both Ashley and Ellie rolled their eyes. "You have got to tell me all about it when you get back!"  
  
"I will, don't worry, Haze." She turned around and sauntered out the door. When the elevator door opened, she saw Mr. Simpson standing there, smiling.  
  
"'Evening, Paige," he greeted her. "Off to dinner downstairs?" Paige smiled, trying to hide the fact that in a few minutes, she would be escaping from this hotel. "Why all the makeup? Some cute boy you're trying to impress?" he joked. Paige let out a fake laugh. When the elevator doors opened to the lobby, she was relieved.  
  
"Um, Mr. Simpson, I'm just going to stop in the gift store really quickly," she lied. As soon as he turned the corner, she scurried out to valet area where a bus was parked. She jumped on it. About twenty-five minutes later, she arrived in a town, which she guessed was Costa Mesa. The houses were kind of old and grandmotherly, but that was okay. Across the street was a semi-tacky looking restaurant with a big sign that said "Don Jose's." As she got closer, she could see Aaron standing outside. He looked just as hot, if not more, than he did the first time she had met him.  
  
"Hey!" she called out to him. He returned the greeting. "So, Costa Mesa is nice," she said.  
  
He smiled. "Well, we're actually just outside of Costa Mesa but it's close enough. Shall we go inside?"  
  
They walked in together. "Hola señor, señorita!" greeted some guy who was clearly not Hispanic. It amused Paige how this guy thought he was Mexican, just because he knew three words in Spanish. "And how many will be in your party tonight?"  
  
"Just us two," replied Aaron politely. The non-Mexican guy showed them to a table and handed them menus. A few seconds later, another guy, who actually appeared Mexican, came by, filling their glasses of water. Paige looked around. This definitely wasn't the type of place she ever expected to go on a date to, but it worked.  
  
"So," said Aaron. "Tell me about home."  
  
Why did he want to know about Toronto, thought Paige. It was totally boring compared to California. "Well, it's nice, I guess. It's sorta lame though."  
  
"Oh," he replied. "Cool. I've actually never been. Whenever I see my uncle, he always comes down here rather than us going up there. He can afford the plane ticket much better." Paige winced. That probably meant that his family wasn't too well off financially. That was a major turn- off. Well, he was hot, and that overruled the poorness.  
  
Paige and Aaron ordered their food, ate it, and talked for a long time. When the evening was finally over, the two of them stood outside in the moonlight.  
  
"Paige," Aaron almost whispered. "I had a great time with you tonight." He was staring into her eyes. It totally creeped out Paige, but it was kind of sweet at the same time.  
  
"I did too, Aaron." It was so weird that she was actually falling for a sweet, sensitive guy like Aaron. He was completely not her type, now that she got to know him, but she liked that about him.  
  
Aaron moved his head closer to Paige and slowly kissed her. It felt great. It wasn't something Paige had ever experienced before. Every other time she had kissed someone, it had been fun, but not anything overly exciting. This time, it was different. Although it was a total cliché, she felt like she was floating. The kiss ended a few seconds later, leaving Paige numb. She waved good-bye to Aaron and walked back across the street to the bus stop. This had been the most amazing night of her life.  
  
-------------------------------------------  
  
Manny looked over at the clock. It was 5:58. She groaned. She really did not want to go downstairs to dinner and have to face Craig. After all, it's pretty hard to eat dinner and act like nothing's wrong in the same room as a guy who had just broken your heart for the second time.  
  
"Manny, are you coming down to dinner?" Emma asked.  
  
"I'm, uh, I don't feel to well," she fibbed.  
  
"Oh, sorry," Emma said sympathetically. "Do you want me to bring you back something?"  
  
"That would be great! Thank you!" she said, having cheered up slightly. Liberty had come out of the bathroom and stopped crying during the period of time Manny had been gone, so Emma, Jessica, and Liberty all left, leaving Manny behind. She reached for the remote and switched on the TV. She flipped through different channels, trying to find something the least bit interesting. She stopped on one channel, on which a man and a woman were sitting next to each other on the beach.  
  
"Samantha, I love you," said the man.  
  
"I love you too," replied the woman. Why couldn't things be this easy for Manny? She found herself starting to cry. She couldn't stop. With in a few minutes, she was bawling her eyes out uncontrollably. The only time she had ever cried this hard before was when Craig had broken her heart the first time. Oh, and when her fish died in first grade, but that didn't count.  
  
"Why does he have to hate me so much?" she cried to herself. "He hates me, he hates me," she repeated over and over. Suddenly the phone rang. She took a deep breath and tried as hard as she could to stop her crying.  
  
"Hello?" she said.  
  
"Manny?" It was Craig. Damn him. He couldn't just shatter her heart like this and then just call her and expect her to treat him nicely.  
  
"What?" she grumbled. "What do you want? Do you want to totally insult me yet again?"  
  
"I - well, I was going to say something, but never mind. Bye." He hung up. Manny threw the phone down almost breaking it. She wished that Craig could just disappear from the face of the Earth. 


	8. Chapter Eight

I'm happy that people say they like my story =) It's so much fun to write! Anyway, I realized what happens with Craig at the end of season two and that he gets together with Ashley and stuff (I don't know the whole story), so let's just pretend that they broke up the next day or something because they realized they weren't right for each other. So, they're still friends. On to the story!  
  
****************  
  
Paige lay quietly in the dark that night. She could hear Ashley, who was in the bed a few feet away from her, muttering something in her sleep. Ellie was sound asleep in the fold-out couch and Hazel had not returned back to the room. Paige guessed that she was off in one of the guys' rooms, flirting endlessly with them. If Hazel had been there, she would have been able to talk to someone about the incredibly happiness she was experiencing. Then again, Hazel was the type to have made fun of her for actually caring about a guy.  
  
Suddenly, the door creaked quietly and a dark figure tiptoed into the room. "Haze?" Paige called.  
  
"Hey," answered Hazel. "How was your night?"  
  
"It was awesome," Paige told her. She decided that she couldn't tell Hazel that she felt as if she were in love, for the sake of her reputation. "I kissed him."  
  
"Nice!" Hazel whispered excitedly. "Is he a good kisser?"  
  
Paige thought about it. He wasn't the best kisser she had ever kissed, but he wasn't all that bad either. "Yep, he is."  
  
This woke Ellie up from her slumber. She groaned. "Hey, can you guys please be quiet? I'm trying to sleep!"  
  
Paige and Hazel snorted. "She's obviously never been to a sleepover," Paige said to Hazel.  
  
"As a matter of fact, I have," responded Ellie. "Now shut the hell up."  
  
Hazel and Paige realized she was serious. "Let's finish this conversation tomorrow morning," Hazel said. "'Night."  
  
"Goodnight!" Paige replied. She put her head back down on the pillow and smiled. It would be a couple of hours before her excitement would wear down enough so that she could sleep.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
Liberty could not sleep for a long time that night either. When she finally did fall asleep, she dreamed that she was at her uncle's funeral. All the people around her were happy and laughing. She was the only one upset, which angered her greatly. She woke up crying, which made Emma wake up.  
  
"Liberty? Are you okay?" Emma asked, still half asleep.  
  
Liberty was about to start going off about how inconsiderate and rude Emma was being for going on with life while a man was dying, but she decided that she needed the support and sympathy of someone. "No, I'm not. Do you mind if I talk to you?"  
  
"No, not at all," replied Emma. She quietly walked over to Liberty's bed and sat at the foot of it. "What's going on?"  
  
Liberty sighed. "My uncle. He--he's in a coma. He may die soon."  
  
"I am so sorry, Liberty," Emma sympathized. "I had no clue this was going on. When did you find out?"  
  
"Just tonight," Liberty cried. She fumbled with a loose thread on the bedspread. "He was like a dad to me, you know."  
  
Emma remembered when her second cousin, Amber, died a year ago at the age of twelve. She had been terribly sad even though she had met Amber only twice. Emma couldn't imagine what pain Liberty was going through having someone she loved be in a terrible condition like this. "Is there anything I can do for you?"  
  
"No thank you." Liberty sat there crying for a few minutes. This made Emma begin to cry as well. Just seeing how upset Liberty was made her sad. The noise of crying woke up Manny. When she asked what was going on, they explained to her. She, also, cried. However, although Liberty and Emma didn't realize this, her crying was mostly because of what had happened to her that night.  
  
Liberty laughed through her tears. "Can you imagine what we must look like? With all of us in a complete mess, bawling our eyes out?" Emma and Manny smiled. "Group hug!" Manny joked shakily. As much as everyone resented Liberty, she really was a good person, just with some faults. Although incredibly annoying at times, Liberty was a good friend. Manny was glad to have someone to cry with about things. Emma was thinking the same. So was Liberty, only not with the part about her being obnoxious. The three slowly returned to their beds and drifted to sleep, feeling a little bit better than before.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
After Marco's eyes had adjusted to the dark, he glanced over at Craig, who was close enough to reach out to. Of course he didn't, because that would wake Craig up, but Marco imagined what it would be like to hold Craig's hand. Spending most of the night thinking, Marco had officially realized that he liked Craig. He couldn't even remember how the crush had started, but it sure was there.  
  
Marco realized that he would have to tell Craig at some point that he liked him. He also realized, though, that he would not be able to do that before "coming out of the closet." He had to come up with a plan to do so.  
  
He tried to think of gay people he knew and how they had come out of the closet. The only one he knew was his aunt's friend Dave, and Marco had no clue how Dave had gone about it.  
  
Perhaps Marco could just tell Craig. No one else really needed to know anyway. But, then, if he only told Craig, he wouldn't be able to go out with him without others suspecting something, obviously.  
  
Craig turned onto his side. "I'm sorry, Manny. Don't hate me," he mumbled, sleeptalking. Marco sighed. It was so hard to find someone to like when you were gay.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
"Are you gonna get it on with Kendra?" JT joked with Toby late at night. Their other roommates were asleep.  
  
"Shut up, JT," Toby said. JT had been sitting somewhere else when the whole scene happened on the bus.  
  
"What? Is Toby too afraid to even kiss his little girlfriend?" teased JT.  
  
"Actually, no." Toby was about to tell JT what had happened, but he was afraid that JT would make fun of him.  
  
Sean Cameron, who apparently had been awake without them noticing it, laughed. "Didn't you see what happened on the bus?"  
  
"What? Tell me!" JT commanded.  
  
"Nothing. Sean does not know what he's talking about!" said Toby angrily.  
  
Sean laughed again. "It's no big deal. It happens to the best of us. Yeah, Toby tried kissing Kendra but she ran away."  
  
JT started laughing hysterically. Toby, quite frankly, did not know what was so funny about this. Kendra probably just had some gum in her mouth at the time or something. He would get a chance to kiss her eventually. No worries. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Okay, so finally, I'm back. I started writing this chapter a long time ago, but I just had a lack of inspiration. Bri-chan, your review made me feel specialful =) Yep, anyway, I'll start writing Chapter Nine now. Oh yeah! I started writing it at school, but since I won't be back for another two months, I guess I'll start over.  
  
****************  
  
Ellie yawned sleepily the next morning and rolled over onto her side. Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was 9:45. Crap. They were leaving for Disneyland at ten and she hadn't even gotten out of bed yet. Quickly, she scurried over to the bathroom, but she heard the sound of the shower running inside. She guessed it was Ashley in there, since Paige and Hazel were sitting on their beds, putting on mascara and lipgloss.  
  
"Hon, she just got in there," Paige told Ellie. "She's not gonna be out for a while." Ellie groaned. There was no way she would have time to take a shower and then get ready. She figured she would just skip the showering for today.  
  
She pulled a punkish top and a pair of black pants out of her suitcase. She sat on her bed for a few minutes until she heard the sound of the shower stopping. When Ashley came out, she used the bathroom to change and applied her black eyeliner and other makeup. When she finished, it was exactly 10:00, so she and Ashley headed downstairs. Paige and Hazel had already left.  
  
When they arrived in the lobby, they saw other Degrassi students milling about. Ellie saw Marco standing with Spinner and Jimmy. He looked devastated about something. Just when Ellie decided to go ask him what was wrong, Mr. Simpson began speaking. "The shuttle to take us to Disneyland has just arrived. Please line up by grade and we'll be on our way shortly."  
  
The Grade Eights left on a shuttle, and a few minutes later, a second one arrived for the Grade Nines. In less than five minutes, both groups had arrived in the Disneyland drop-off area and were filing out of the shuttles.  
  
When they reached a center area in between Disneyland, California Adventure, and Downtown Disney, Mr. Simpson stopped them so they could take roll. Right. Of course someone was gonna get lost in between the bus and the ticket booths. Manny heard a familiar song playing over the loudspeakers as they got closer to the ticket booths. She realized it was "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul. She had recently become a fan of Paula Abdul, so she found it pretty cool that her song was playing. Manny began singing along. "Straight up now tell me do you really want to love me forever? Oh-oh-oh."  
  
"Manny!" Emma said annoyed. "Why are you singing along? It's like, an old song! It's something my mom would like!"  
  
"It's only from the eighties!" Manny replied. Emma rolled her eyes. Oh well. Manny thought about Craig and realized her situation related to this song. Craig just needed to straight up tell her if he really wanted to love her forever! (Oh-oh-oh). Manny laughed at the thought. Her mood about Craig had brightened since she was able to let it out last night.  
  
Ms. Kwan handed tickets out to the students, and then they were dismissed. They were given emergency contact numbers and were instructed to meet up again under the Mickey Mouse flowers at 4:00 and 9:00. They also were told that they had to stay in groups of at least three the whole time. Manny, Emma, and JT formed a group. Toby was off with Kendra somewhere.  
  
"So, where do you gals wanna go first?" JT asked. Emma pulled out her map and studied it.  
  
"Let's go to It's A Small World!" Manny said, laughing.  
  
"Oh, God, why did I pick these people as a group?" JT jokingly complained.  
  
"Please?" Manny begged. "It looks so cute!"  
  
Hesitantly, he and Emma agreed and they followed the map over to It's A Small World. The line was only about five minutes long, much better than the 110 minutes for the Matterhorn they saw on the way there. Emma, Manny, and JT got in line behind a two-year-old who kept pointing at them.  
  
"Aww! He's so adorable!" Manny exclaimed. JT snorted. Little kids were so annoying in his opinion. When they made it to the front of the line, the three hopped in the back row of a green boat. "It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all," the miniature animatronic people that were supposed to look like they were from all around the world sang over and over. And over. And over. Pretty soon, JT was singing along in a high-pitched screech. When he got bored of singing, he had an idea. He pulled a penny out of his pocket and threw it at one particularly annoying-looking little person who was supposed to be from Ireland.  
  
"JT!" Emma whined. "Don't do that! You'll get us kicked out!"  
  
"Em, no one cares. You wanna throw one?" he questioned.  
  
"Um, no thank you!" Emma said, irked.  
  
Manny found this amusing. "I'll take one!" she offered. JT handed her a penny and she threw it at the two Japanese girls that were bowing above the entrance to the next land. It bounced back down into an empty row in the boat and the people in the first two rows turned around. They looked up at the ceiling as if they thought the ride was falling apart. She and JT tried to suppress their laughter. Emma grit her teeth. They were so immature.  
  
When the ride was finally over, to everyone's happiness, they sat down at a nearby bench.  
  
"So, where to next?" JT asked. "How about this time, Manny does not get to pick!"  
  
"Hey!" Manny said, pretending to be offended.  
  
"How about Space Mountain?" JT suggested. The others agreed and they began heading over there. When they got closer, they saw a sign that said it was closed for renovations until 2005.  
  
"Great," Manny said. "So, um, what should we do?" They saw to the right of them people walking into the Honey I Shrunk the Audience theater.  
  
"How about that?" asked Emma. "The show's starting right now." They agreed to see it. After being supposedly shrunken down in size, run over by mice, and sneezed on by a dog, they returned their 3D glasses to the bin.  
  
"That sucked," JT said, stating the obvious. He was beginning to think that Disneyland wasn't all it was made out to be.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
"Okay, dudes! We're at Disneyland!" Spinner announced, stating the obvious. "What do you wanna do?"  
  
"You can pick," Marco told him. "I'm good with whatever."  
  
"Yeah, me too," agreed Jimmy. Just as long as he didn't have to see Ashley. Ever since she had gone out with Craig at the end of the year, he loathed even hearing her name.  
  
"Okay, then," said Spinner. "How about Indiana Jones?"  
  
They decided to go with Spinner's suggestion and headed over to that side of the park. When they arrived, they saw that there was a 70 minute wait.  
  
"Let's just come back to this later," Marco pleaded.  
  
"Nah! We got all day!" Spinner argued. "Let's go now!"  
  
"Yeah, why not?" asked Jimmy. Marco groaned and trudged over to the end of the line. After waiting for what seemed like hours (although was only fifteen minutes in actuality), Marco was getting incredibly frustrated.  
  
"Why did I agree to go on this with you?" he demanded.  
  
"'Cuz it's a good ride!" Spinner exclaimed.  
  
Marco rolled his eyes. "You know what? I think I'll let you guys go on this alone. See ya!" He cut through the line of people behind him, ignoring Spinner's shouts.  
  
"Wait! We're gonna get in trouble! Ms. Kwan told us to stay in groups of three!" Normally, Spinner didn't care about following school rules, but he was in California. He didn't want to have to miss out on anything they would be doing. 


	10. Chapter Ten

Marco looked around, trying to figure out where to go. Maybe he could join Craig's group. That would be a good way to be "forced" to spend time with him. It would be incredibly difficult to find him though in this huge, annoyingly crowded amusement park.  
  
He realized that Spinner was right. If a teacher caught him by himself, he would be punished, meaning he would have to stay in the hotel the whole trip. Maybe he should go back and join Spinner and Jimmy. He headed back towards Indiana Jones and started maneuvering through the line. People around him glared.  
  
"Man, what the hell are you doing?" a huge guy asked him with a look on his face like he were about to kill.  
  
"Sorry, I'm just trying to get back to my friends," explained Marco.  
  
"You can't just cut. We've all been waiting in this line forever. You aren't any exception. Get out NOW!"  
  
Marco whimpered. "You little coward," said the man. "Whimpering? That's only for losers. I said, GET OUT NOW!"  
  
Marco ran for his life. He did realize that he was being pretty cowardly, as the guy had said. But what was wrong with not wanting to be beat up on his first trip to Disneyland?  
  
Okay, so maybe this wasn't working out too well. He could just have waited at the exit to the ride, but for all he knew, he could be standing there for a looong time. Walking through the crowd, he gasped as he saw Mr. Simpson with a group of a few other teachers. Please don't see me. Please don't see me. He thought. He began scurrying away from them, but it was too late.  
  
"Marco?" Mr. Simpson called. "Are you by yourself?"  
  
Marco winced. "Yes."  
  
"And why is that?" asked Mr. Simpson.  
  
"Well, I was trying to get back to Jimmy and Spinner but this dude started yelling at me and I could-"  
  
"Please come with us."  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
JT, Emma, and Manny sat on a bench in Tomorrowland. Manny was staring at specks of dirt on the floor, Emma was reading the Disneyland map over and over again, and JT was shouting "hi" to random strangers that passed by. How exciting.  
  
"Maybe we should do something," suggested Manny.  
  
"Ya think?" JT asked sarcastically.  
  
"Yeah, but what is there to do?" asked Emma.  
  
"Well, there's at least twenty rides we haven't even seen yet," Manny pointed out. "Why can't we at least go see them?"  
  
"They're probably all boring," Emma assumed.  
  
"Well, let's just go check them out," Manny said. "We can't spend the whole day sitting on a bench."  
  
They wandered around for a few minutes until they came to the Haunted Mansion.  
  
"Wanna go?" asked Manny. JT and Emma said yes. The line was only ten minutes long.  
  
Entering the elevator thing, they laughed as the voice told them that "This chamber has no doors and no windows," despite the fact that they had just walked through a door to get into there. Whatever. The lights went out and they all screamed as the people around them did. They then went to the next room and got in their "Doomsbuggies." Disneyland was actually starting to look up.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
"Okay, so what's the plan for today?" Ashley asked Ellie.  
  
"Hmm.well, I was thinking," Ellie said.  
  
"And?"  
  
"We're both single currently, right?" Ellie asked.  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"Why not go looking for guys?"  
  
"Ellie!" Ashley laughed. "What has gotten into you? Suddenly, you're a boy freak?"  
  
"So what if I am?" Ellie giggled. And so began their search.  
  
They spotted a guy of about their age standing nearby. He looked pretty cute and was slightly punk. Perfect.  
  
"I call this one!" announced Ellie. She walked over to him smiling. "Hi. I'm Ellie."  
  
"Hi," he replied uninterested.  
  
"So, what's up?" Ellie asked flirtatiously.  
  
"Nothing," he replied. "I have to go." He quickly walked in the direction away from them.  
  
"Okay, so first try was a failure," said Ellie. "There's tons of more guys to hit on! Come on, you gotta try too."  
  
"Um, I don't think that's such a good idea," Ashley said. "I mean, it's been less than two weeks since Craig and I broke up. I don't want to look like a total slut."  
  
"Whatever. Well, I'm gonna keep doing it though."  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
Craig, Sean, and Kyle (the other member of their group) had just gotten off of Splash Mountain and were walking towards Main Street just as Manny, JT, and Emma were exiting the Haunted Mansion.  
  
"Manny!" Craig shouted over the crowd of people.  
  
Manny groaned as she heard the familiar voice. "Hi Craig," she said in a bored tone."  
  
"What's up?" he asked.  
  
Act like nothing's happened, why don't you! "Nothing," she replied.  
  
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" asked Craig.  
  
"Um, well, we, uh, we have to meet someone in two minutes on the other side of the park," Manny lied. "Bye!" She ran off. Emma and JT, confused, followed her.  
  
"Manny, what was that about?" Emma asked, concerned. "I thought you and Craig had been getting along lately."  
  
Manny glared at Emma. "Well, you thought wrong."  
  
"Do you want to talk?" Emma had no clue what was going on.  
  
"No, just leave me alone, okay?" Manny shouted, causing a few people to stare at her. "Let's just go on Splash Mountain." She stomped off towards that direction.  
  
"What's her problem?" JT asked Emma. They were a few feet behind Manny.  
  
"I don't know," Emma told him. "Obviously something with Craig, but she won't tell me."  
  
"Ah. Boy troubles. Something I don't know too much about."  
  
"Let's hope," Emma said. "Look, when we get in line, I'm gonna try to talk to her. Can you stay a few feet behind, just in case she wants privacy?"  
  
"Sure. Good luck." They got in line and Emma took a deep breath as she approached Manny. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

So, I hadn't updated for almost two months and I add three chapters today? Yep. I hope you enjoy this one too!  
  
**********  
  
"Manny, what's going on?" Emma asked. "You know you can talk to me."  
  
"You wouldn't understand," Manny replied moodily.  
  
"Of course I would! You're my best friend!"  
  
"Fine. It's Craig," said Manny.  
  
"What happened?" Emma questioned.  
  
Manny sighed. "Okay, so we were getting along great I thought, right?" Emma nodded. "And he told me that he was sorry for breaking up with me."  
  
"Isn't that a good thing?" Emma asked confused.  
  
"Yeah, but there's more." Manny looked at the ground. "Yesterday, I took a walk with him. And I-I told him that I liked him."  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Mm-hmm. And he just ran away from me." Manny suddenly realized that she had been upset over something that wasn't really all that big of a deal.  
  
"Well, maybe he was just nervous," Emma suggested.  
  
"You think that could've been it?" Emma smiled at Manny. "Dang. I was really overreacting, wasn't I?"  
  
"You should go talk to him," said Emma. "Ask him what happened."  
  
"Okay, thanks," Manny said. "I will later today."  
  
-----------------------  
  
Paige rolled her eyes as some three year old bumped into her leg and kept running. Spending a day at a theme park infested with little kids wasn't her idea of fun.  
  
"Haze, I'm bored," she remarked.  
  
"Me too," replied Hazel. "And we have another ten hours here. What the hell are we gonna do?"  
  
"We could try to find Spinner, Jimmy, and Marco first," Paige suggested. They had all originally been in one group, but when Paige and Hazel started talking to Christina, a Grade Nine from Degrassi, the guys had figured they could ditch them since they now had a group of three. Christina had found her group that she had lost so she returned to them, leaving Paige and Hazel alone. They weren't worried about being caught, though, since they had been talking and not listening to the announcement of the three to a group rule.  
  
"Yeah, but they're so immature," Hazel pointed out. Paige agreed.  
  
"Hey, do you wanna ditch Disneyland?" asked Paige with a look of mischievousness in her eyes.  
  
"And go where?" asked Hazel.  
  
"Downtown Disney. They have lots of shopping and clubs and stuff there."  
  
"Sure, why not," Hazel said. They found the exit to Disneyland and left through it. As long as they were back by 4, they would be fine.  
  
"I'm gonna call Aaron," Paige told Hazel. "Maybe you can meet him." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed his number. He picked up the phone.  
  
"Hi Aaron," she said over the phone. "It's Paige. I'm at Disneyland. Do you want to meet us here?"  
  
"Sure!" he said excitedly. Normally, Paige would've been annoyed with someone so eager to see her, but he was just different. "I'll be there by 11:30. Where should we meet?"  
  
"The ticket booths?"  
  
"Okay," Aaron replied. "See you then."  
  
They decided to shop until it was 11:30. Spotting a store called "Liquid Planet," they went in.  
  
"This is cute!" Hazel exclaimed, picking up a shirt.  
  
"Wow. So is this!" Paige said eyeing a pair of denim shorts. She noticed that there was clothing for guys as well. "I think I'm gonna get Aaron something. These are very Aaron styles."  
  
"You've known him for less than a week and you already know what clothes to buy for him?" asked Hazel. "I'm impressed."  
  
Paige smiled. She picked up a navy shirt from Quicksilver. "What size do you think he'd wear?" she asked Hazel.  
  
"Paige, remember? I haven't even met him?"  
  
"Oh yeah," she realized her mistake. "Hmm.I think I'll get him a medium."  
  
"Whatever," replied Hazel. She had never seen Paige care about a guy this much before. By the time they paid for their purchases, it was 11:25. They waited by the ticket booths for a few minutes until Aaron arrived.  
  
"Aaron! Hi!" Paige said excitedly. "This is my friend Hazel."  
  
"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking her hand.  
  
Hazel shot Paige a look as if to say "not too bad!" "I've heard all about you," she told him. He laughed.  
  
"I got you a little something," Paige announced.  
  
"Really? How sweet!" said Aaron.  
  
"Here you go." She handed him the bag. He opened it and smiled.  
  
"I love the shirt!" he exclaimed. "Thank you so much!" He kissed her on the cheek. Paige felt butterflies in her stomach.  
  
-----------------------  
  
"Should we eat lunch now?" Sean asked.  
  
"Sure," replied Kyle.  
  
"Craig?" said Sean. "Craig?"  
  
"What?" Craig had been lost in his own world of thought. "Oh. Okay, that's fine." He really couldn't figure out Manny. She tells him she likes him and when he tries to talk to her, she runs away. Okay, so maybe it was partly his fault. He had run away when Manny had announced that she liked him, but he was just a little nervous.  
  
He would have to try to talk to her again later. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

I'm back with another chapter. Today's reviewer of the day goes to GuruSeries! Lol. I liked your review. In fact, I like all of your reviews! So, anyway, can you guys let me know which your favorite and least favorite plotlines are? I want to know which ones I should develop more and which I should include less. Thanks!  
  
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Marco sighed as he sat down in the seat on Thunder Mountain next to Mr. Simpson. Just because he had been separated from his group, Simpson had made him spend the rest of the day riding rides with the teachers. And he could tell you that that was extremely dull.  
  
"Isn't this a great ride?" Mr. Simpson asked Marco.  
  
"Sure," Marco muttered. Behind him, Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Hatzilakos were chattering away happily about none other than the physics of the ride. It was summer. They were on vacation. Didn't they have anything more interesting to talk about?  
  
After the ride was over, Armstrong suggested lunch. He led them to New Orleans Square where the Blue Bayou was situated.  
  
"I thought you had to have reservations ahead of time for this," said Ms. Hatzilakos.  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Mr. Armstrong replied. "I called in a few weeks ago."  
  
Marco wrinkled his nose in disgust as he read the menu on the wall. Portobello Mushrooms? Caribbean Crab Cakes? How un-Disneyland. He had kind of been hoping for something simple for lunch. Like maybe a hamburger or pizza.  
  
"I think I'm gonna get something from a nearby restaurant," Marco told them. "I'll be right back."  
  
"Uh, no," Mr. Simpson said. "You need to stay with us." Marco groaned. He followed the teachers as they entered the restaurant. It was pretty much dark except for the candles that lit up the tables. He could see off to the side people riding in boats through the water. Mr. Armstrong commented that that was part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The waitress led them to a table. Marco sat as the teachers talked, trying hard not to fall asleep.  
  
---------------------  
  
"I need to find Manny," Craig thought as he followed Sean and Kyle to the Pizza Port for lunch. "Where is she? I need to find Manny." He almost bumped into a pole as he was lost in thought.  
  
"Uh, are you okay, Craig?" Sean asked, noticing Craig's lack of consciousness.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Craig replied. "Just thinking."  
  
They entered Pizza Port and began picking out lunch. Craig picked up a "Lunar Cheese Pizza" and headed over to the cashier. As he was looking through his wallet for cash, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Manny standing there.  
  
"Manny!" he said smiling.  
  
"Hi, Craig," she said. He was suddenly acting so friendly towards her. It was weird. "Can I talk to you?"  
  
"I actually wanted to talk to you too," Craig told her. "You go first."  
  
"No, you," Manny said.  
  
"Okay," Craig began. "You know about yesterday?" Manny nodded her head. "Um, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off like that."  
  
"And I'm sorry for not being rude to you after that," she apologized.  
  
"Friends?" Craig asked.  
  
"Friends," agreed Manny although she was still hoping he thought more of her than that.  
  
"So, do you guys want to eat with us?" questioned Craig as he noticed that Emma and Sean were already talking happily by the soda machine. "Why aren't Emma and Sean together in a group anyway?"  
  
"JT begged us to be in his group, although I'm not sure why, and I said that we would before Sean asked Emma to be in your group," Manny explained.  
  
"Oh. So why don't we just all hang out together?" suggested Craig.  
  
"Cool," Manny said, excited at the prospect of spending all day at Disneyland with this adorable, funny, sweet, kind (was there any doubt she was totally into him?) guy named Craig.  
  
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"So, have you girls eaten lunch yet?" Aaron asked Paige and Hazel as they began walking through Downtown Disney.  
  
"Nope," they answered.  
  
"Then let me treat you to it!" said Aaron. This was another aspect of Aaron that Paige totally loved. He was so polite and caring. They saw some outdoor tables that appeared to be part of a restaurant called "Uva Bar" and agreed to eat there.  
  
Aaron pulled out Paige's chair for her and let her sit down. He then waited until Hazel was seated until he sat down next to Paige. She loved these manners he had. They ordered their meals and talked small talk until their food arrived. When they finished lunch, Aaron paid the bill and they continued walking through Downtown Disney.  
  
They stopped in Build-A-Bear Workshop and decided to make teddy bears. Paige normally wouldn't have been caught dead in a store like this, but things were different. Aaron was here.  
  
"I'll be right back," he told them after they had picked out their skins. He found the sound area of the store. He knew that you could record your own message, and he chose to do this. After recording it, he returned to Hazel and Paige who were getting their bears stuffed, hiding the sound thing behind his back.  
  
"What were you up to?" Paige asked him.  
  
"Oh, nothing," he replied mischievously. Paige looked at him doubtfully.  
  
The three of them finished making their bears, bought a few pieces of clothing for them, and paid. When they were back outside, Aaron handed Paige his bear.  
  
"I want you to have mine," he told her. "Press the stomach."  
  
She did as he was told and laughed as she heard the message. "Paige, you are the coolest girl I've ever met. I'm so glad to know you. Don't ever change!"  
  
---------------------  
  
Liberty had decided not to go to Disneyland. She waited in her hotel room staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring with news about her uncle. Looking at the clock, she realized that she had been doing this for almost 3 hours.  
  
She practically fell off the bed when she heard the phone ringing.  
  
"Hello?" she answered, shaking.  
  
"Is Manny there?" the voice on the other end asked. Liberty let out a sigh of disappointment.  
  
"No, she's not. May I take a message?" she asked politely.  
  
"This is her father," the voice told her. "I'll just call back later." Liberty hung up the phone and returned to her wait for a call. She soon began drifting asleep. Suddenly, the phone rang again waking her up.  
  
She answered the phone. "Hi Liberty," her dad said over the phone. "Bad news." Liberty cringed wondering how bad the news really was. "James.he's.he's.well, he passed away about twenty minutes ago." Yep, this news was bad. 


End file.
